Configuration files

[Christian]

Hi all,
Since I am trying to do more and more in Linux than Windows I just have a question. When installing different programs including Speech-dispatcher the configuration file was not in /etc instead it was in /usr/local/etc. Yes, you can specify the location when running ./configure. Speech-dispatcher is working so no problems but was just wondering. Many programs use the /etc directory for configuration files. Also, when I installed my Debian Lenny system BRLTTY was already installed into /sbin. However, when I downloaded the latest tarball of BRLTTy it installed it to /bin. I moved all related BRLTTY files from /bin to /sbin instead so that BRLTTY would be launched at system start. I am just trying to find the basics of this since it installs to different locations. Glad that it's working and I am learning something new each day! Any clarification would be apreciated.
All the best and thanks,
Christian